How to Have A Healthy Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving is today and many of us are planning on seeing family, friends, and eating good foods. Here are some easy tips to make your Thanksgiving a healthy one!

• Eat only 1 - 2 servings of turkey and other sides
• Do not overload your plate
• One serving without skin: 4 oz. = 173 calories (depending on how it was cooked)
• Limit your eating to 2nd's and not 3rd's
• Add whole grain to your stuffing (brown rice, bulgur, millet or barely)
• Lowers many chronic diseases 
• Helps weight management 
• Lowers blood pressure
• Lowers gum disease and tooth decay
• Include at least 3 dark green vegetable side dishes
• Has less calories per serving
• Has vitamins, lowers cholesterol, and blood pressure
• Tons of Fiber to keep your weight management in check
• Recipes:
• Broccoli, Shitake and Red Onion Roast
• Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Garlic, and Shallots
• Use Turkey Bacon for less calories
• Healthy sweet potato recipe
• Sweet potato is loaded with vitamin C vitamin A, potassium, calcium, and iron
• Used by bodybuilders to help build muscle
• Recipe
• Sweet potato & Quinoa Casserole
  
• Healthy pie recipe
• Make sweet pies without all the unwanted extra calories
• Recipe:
• Pear Custard Pie
• If you want to try everything that is displayed to eat for Thanksgiving, then get small portions of each.
• Getting 1 - 2 oz of each dish will save you unwanted calories you do not want to take in and will save you from looking like a prude during Thanksgiving.
• Take your time while eating
• Your body does not know it is full until 20 minutes. 
• Take your time and converse with your family and friends. I'm sure there is a lot of catching up to do.
• Drink red wine, low calorie beer, fresh squeezed juices, and/or water
• Cut out sodas, especially diet sodas
• Red wine is loaded with anti-oxidants
• Drink beer like Miller 64 and other low calories that are under 100 calories
• Fresh orange juice or homemade organic lemonade has less calories than the high corn syrup prepackage ones.

Happy Thanksgiving!

        ~Candace~

Beginners: Beware of Fast Paced 30 Minute or Less Workout Programs

Are You Ready 30 Minute or Less; Fast-Paced Workout Programs?

I'm sure there are plenty people out there that FINALLY started their NEW YEAR NEW ME for 2020, barely got themselves used to doing some fitness activity and NOW quarantined at home for an undisclosed amount of time. Now what do you do? There are a lot of advertisements for at home workouts that require time and some equipment and then there are other programs that are fast paced and only take 30 minutes or less to do. Before you jump on the band wagon to these types of quick workouts, ask yourself, are you ready for high impact workouts?

A lot of these exercises do not seem like much, do not use much equipment and being done fast with a workout sounds very appealing, but how long has it been since you were active like the instructors are the program? If it has been more than 6 months since you were training consistently, you need to start from the beginning with regular slow paced workouts with adequate amounts of rest. This might sound boring and asking for too much time, but this will greatly reduce you chances of getting injured which will lead you to stopping your fitness goals for an undetermined amount of time. 

If you lack flexibility, core strength, joint stability and muscular development then you are deconditioned and need to start with a low intensity exercise program. A type of program that starts the focus on core strengthening, joint stability, flexibility and muscular endurance. Starting off with exercises that use a Swiss ball, Bosu ball and one legged exercise are key in strengthening stability and muscle coordination. In addition, the increased difficulty of using unstable exericses helps burn more calories which burns more fat. These types of exercises are done with moderate amounts of weight with high repetitions. Once you have mastered exercising with untable enviroments then you are ready to move on to more strenous type of training

In order to see results, I would recommend engaging in this type of training for at least 4 - 6 weeks. Log your workouts in a journal along with sets, reps and weight amounts. When an exercise becomes too easy is when you move up in weight. On this blog you can find many examples of exercises that include a Swiss ball (stability ball), a Bosu ball and are one legged. You can also find other examples on my Youtube Channel 

Some Tips To Keep off the pounds this Summer!

Summer Fitness Tips to Keep the Pounds Off!

Food and Beverage choices (80%)

• Keep the fried foods, fast foods, processed foods and red meat to a minimum.
• Look for words like: blackened, grilled, & roasted.
• Go for fruit instead of refined white flour baked goods.
• Eat lots of greens. They fill up half of your medium sized plate.
•  Ask for a doggie bag to put half of the meal to go. Or share with a companion.
• Alcohol is basically liquid carbs and over 2 beers is illegal to drive! 
• Not a good idea on a family vacation!
• 1 oz. of alcohol is 80 - 100 calories
• Drinking alcohol not only gets you drunk, but it also dehydrates, fills you with empty calories which equals weight gain and water retention.
• Keep hydrated with water!
• In the hot sun without water can lead to dehydration and heat exhaustion.
• Sodas, Teas and coffee are also diuretics! 

Activity Level (20%)

Just a reminder: The less activity you do without making proper food choices, the more weight you will gain.

Just because you are on Summer vacation doesn't mean you stop working out and taking care of

your health. 

• Keep the cardiovascular training going!
• 2 – 3 x a week is adequate to maintain a strong cardiovascular endurance
• Walk, jog or run on the beach, city or country side
• Ride a bicycle or mountain bike
• Go hiking on a hill or mountain side 
• It will make you feel like a kid again
•  Play volleyball at the beach or regular outdoor activities.
• Resistance training is also just as important!
•  The more muscle you retain the stronger immune system you will have with proper
• nutrition.
• Muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less space on the body.
• Each pound of muscle burns an additional 14 calories per pound.
• More muscle equals higher the metabolism
• A minimum or 2 – 3 times a week is adequate for weight and core training
•  Most hotels and resorts have small fitness rooms with Tvs!
• Resistance bands are great for traveling
• They can be used to train:
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Shoulders
• Glutes
• Hips

• Calisthenics: Body weight exercises
• Pushups
• Crunches
• Wall Static Squats
• Superman
• Single-leg stiff-leg deadlift
• Inclined Plank
• Single-leg calf raises
• Side plank

Falling off the band wagon for too long will make it very HARD to get BACK ON TRACK. You will have to grow through the soreness and stiffness all over again! Why go through that? I'm a bodybuilder and post contest we usually take 1 - 2 weeks off to heal from the extensive resistance training from the contest prep. However, I can only stand taking 1 week off. I get very sore once I start training again. I can only imagine 2 whole weeks off!

Keep Those Unwanted Pounds Off All the Way to Christmas

Tis the Season to not become a weight gain statistic. What do I mean by this? Well according to the "experts", the average person only gains a pound during the holiday season. On the other hand, overweight and obese individuals gain about 5 lbs. However, I find this information to be false because of the years I have spent taking meticulous records of my clients' progress during training people for the last 12 years as a personal trainer and 8 years as a competition prep coach. 

I used to weigh my clients every 4 weeks, but I found that this wouldn't really help them. Most of them didn't get serious until I gave them a heads up that their weigh-in was in a week. So, I decided to weigh them every Monday or every week. I have found that in my gym the average weight gain for clients during the holidays that are average and active is about 10 lbs. Overweight and obese clients usually gain about 15 - 25 pounds. I have had both fit, overweight and obese clients gain 5 - 7 lbs. in one week. So now imagine when we multiply that by 8 weeks (4 weeks of November and 4 from December). This equals to about 40 - 56 lbs of potential weight gain if you are not careful with your level of activity and food intake. In addition, this is when MOST of my clients stop training to save up for Christmas and traveling. 

I assume that when people read the "experts" statistics and it gives them to "go ahead" and "enjoy yourself" during the holidays, drink like fish and quit working out because they believe they will only gain 1 - 5 pounds. However, this behavior will only help you gain a whole bunch of fat that will take 10 times as hard to loose. Just because it is the holidays should not be a reason to throw away all the effort you have put into working out and getting healthy. If you have not even started a workout regime this year, then you are only making it harder for yourself once you get into the "New Year New Me" season. Gaining fat is easy but losing fat is super hard. It takes 3500 calories to lose 1 POUND of FAT!!! It is even harder if you are a woman. So why put yourself through this? It will only get you depressed after the parties, socials, and festivals end. 

After you read this post make the right decision for your health. You can save the unhealthy food for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas with your immediate family. There is no reason to pig out at every Thanksgiving and Christmas party. You can have an enjoyable time without eating a whole bunch of crap that will make you feel depressed later. I teach my clients how to eat a healthy meal before they  go to a holiday parties. Try this next time, it will help you stay full and only be able to try out some of the hor d'oeurvres. Keep on working out and do not let excuses get in the way. 

Think smart, eat smart and train smart!

Candace

A Weekend of Messing Around With Your Diet Will Ruin a Whole 2 Weeks of Work

Barbell Squat

Nutrition is 80% of the Equation at All Times!!!

I hear it all the time, "I workout to be able to eat" but, are you really making a or any deficit in order to cheat the way you want to? Having clients over the years, I have done everything I can to help them understand that what they put in their mouth can make or break all the hard work they did during the week and month! Most of them never understand what I am talking about until I weigh them after the weekend or a vacation. The research that I have done with my clients over the years have shown me that an average weight gain from 2 cheat days is from 6 - 10 lbs. Average weight gain from a vacation is up to 20 lbs. It takes a week to lose 1- 2 lbs. depending on how compliant the client was to keeping track of their intake and staying active.

Image Credits Shen Therapies

The main thing is that the food and drinks really are that bad! Serving sizes at restaurants are 2 - 4x larger than what you need to eat. A meal (regular food) can be 800 - 3,000 calories in one sitting. Now, imagine adding the drinks and dessert! It takes 3500 calories to gain 1lb. or to lose it. So, now are you still surprised when you don’t keep track of your food, drinks and don’t exercise that you will gain weight? 

Image Credits: Nutra Carina

You have to remember that you are a living organism that grows or shrinks continuously depending on what your lifestyle is like: sendentary, active or athletic. We are not made of plastic. So, gorging yourself over the weekend or vacation instead of doing the standard 1 - 2 cheat meals a week and not staying active will mess up all the hard work you have done. You will have to start all over. Why do this to yourself? You don’t have to eat or drink what your friends, family or etc. to have a good time. Stop looking at your food as fun and look at it like fuel! You won’t be laughing and having fun once you step on the scale.